As told to Ric Burnley After more 30 years on the water, Capt. Ronnie Woodruff still has the passion of a wide-eyed kid working the docks at Orange Beach Marina. My family was always into fishing. I got my first job at eleven years old, pumping fuel at the Dog River Marina.
What is life like after being the "Big Skipper"? Often people ask, "What do captains do if they want to quit traveling and being away from home for many months out of the year?" Well, I have observed and found that a lot of captains who have been at the
There was a time, not too long ago, that blue water marlin tournaments were the exclusive province of inboard powered sportfishers. Center consoles that fished saltwater tournaments were either targeting kingfish or viewed as an intrepid novelty”hardcore fishing teams who ran around on boats that, while seaworthy, lacked many of the
Chip Byrd is the first mate on Artemis. In addition to being a hell of a fisherman, Chip is well-traveled and innovative in his approach to cockpit work. The following is a list of tackle tips from Chip bag of tricks. 1. Cinching your knots with Bert Bees”Chip uses chapstick to
The leaderboard is stacked and heavy with notables. Yet a busy weekend has left us with a major shakeup in the Captain of the Year Cup leaderboard presented by Hatteras. Following a first place showing in the release division of the White Marlin Open, Capt. Russell Sinclair and crew aboard
It's countdown time for the Rybovich 94' Enclosed Bridge Sportfish. With the hull paint job wrapped up it's on to the finishing touches and it won't be long until this boat is hitting the water and testing its full capabilities. Design: Michael Rybovich & Sons LOA: 94' BOA: 22' Draft: 5' 0" Power: (2) MTU 16v2000 M96L - 2600hp Generators: (2) Kohler
National Maritime Center, Aug. 24, 2020”The Coast Guard is aware of the need to restart the examination process to allow mariners to obtain or upgrade credentials. We know the closure of our Regional Exam Centers (REC) and Monitoring Units (MU) due to COVID-19 has negatively affected mariners, maritime employers, and
Captain Alan Neiford is no stranger to fishing. Hailing from Leesburg, Florida, he grew up fishing in the Keys at his family home in Marathon. My nickname growing up was Fish, Alan says with a chuckle. After learning the ropes while charter fishing around Charleston, Neiford was introduced to the
After testing negative for COVID, we were off to the land of Sammy Hagar Cabo Wabo and Hotel California. In fact, our travel itinerary arranged for us to leave Dallas, Texas around 7 a.m and by 10:30 a.m (Cabo time), I was looking out the Jarucos salon window at a
The MidAtlantic”The final day of the 2020 MidAtlantic dawned sunny though a light breeze kept temperatures cool as the 163 boats headed out on Day Five into calm seas offshore. With a 91-pound white marlin leading the category, admittedly everyone in the tournament acknowledged that number would be hard to
